Coming Up - 10:00 AM EST: Facebook Whistleblower testifies before Senate

[blogslug]

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chair of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security will convene a hearing titled “Protecting Kids Online: Testimony from a Facebook Whistleblower” at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. Recent Wall Street Journal investigations have revealed troubling insights regarding how Instagram affects teenagers, how it handles children onto the platform, and other consumer protection matters related to Facebook. The hearing will provide an opportunity for a Facebook whistleblower to discuss their perspective and experience with the Subcommittee, including how to update children’s privacy regulations and other laws to protect consumers online.

Streams:

https://www.commerce.senate.gov/

https://www.c-span.org/video/?515042-1/facebook-whistleblower-testifies-protecting-kids-online

[mobeau69]

1. CNN is showing it. nt

[spanone]

5. m$nbc is not.

[Quakerfriend]

2. Thanks for posting this. I suspect that

yesterdays fiasco with FB was ‘created’
to distract from the whistleblower.

[VarryOn]

3. I had the same thought! Nt

[Mersky]

4. Referencing the WSJ reporting, Haugan pointed out that 87% of their information integrity

Budget is directed towards English content, even though only 9% of users are English speaking. She noted this in response to Sen. Klobuchar’s question of how or whether FB prioritizes profit over safety.

[Mersky]

6. Thank you for posting

I couldn’t watch the very start of the hearing, and am likely to rewatch from the beginning. Is a rather profound inside look at how games their platform to drive engagement.

[FakeNoose]

7. I'm thinking the confirmed Facebook users are going to ignore this

The only ones paying attention are the Zuckerberg wannabee's who wish they could do exactly the same on their websites.

[Mersky]

8. So there's a generational divide

Parents who weren’t exposed to addictive qualities of technology when they were growing up are unable to respond to their kids with understanding. Telling their kids to just quit using a platform like Instagram increases kids’ feelings of loneliness.

[Mersky]

9. Rough summary of some of her points thus far

- disproportionate focus of FB integrity on English speaking markets or limited languages drives ethnic violence in places like Ethiopia. For instance, of the six languages spoken in Ethiopia, only 2 have any integrity system support.

- big emphasis placed on the difference between engagement ranking (computer AI based) versus socially conversation driven (human based) is driving more viral usage based on negativity and outrage

- she made a point of how politicians are being compelled to answer on issues driven by this viral/outrage based engagement ranking

[berniesandersmittens]

10. Psychographic and behavioral marketing/advertising should be illegal.

Full stop imo.

It should be considered child abuse to allow it to be used on children.

[Mersky]

11. "Oh, Facebook is very aware of foreign espionage on the platform."

Sen. Blumenthal replied that there needs to be another hearing on that alone.

[Mersky]

12. "Consistent underinvestment in languages that are not English"

(Now paraphrasing) Even though English represents less than 20% of the platform.

[Mersky]

13. Mins ago... she discussed with Sen Klobuchar how FB blocked NYU researchers from gathering

Behavioral study of voluntary participants using FB.

___
First I’m hearing of this and I’d like to know more.

[Mersky]

14. "Thank you for your extraordinary testimony..."

Said Sen. Blumenthal, and I concur.

I will watch her testimony again today. Is a moment to stop and take stock of the effect of engagement based algorithms, Facebook, Instagram, transparency, privacy, and psychological exploitation beneath the surface of online platforms.